Here's hoping for a bright Icelandic night Friday 20th November

It's further to Iceland than you think. Gatwick to Keflavik Airport is a three hour five minutes flight. I thought that you could pretty well get to Greenland in that time. The transfer from Keflavik to Reykjavik takes an hour and a quarter (I thought that would have taken you across Iceland and off the other side). Add to that the three hours Spalding to Gatwick drive and it was becoming rather a long day.

After twelve hours travelling we arrived at the Cabin Hotel. I had read that the rooms are rather small and that those facing the ocean were the best. It is always worth asking for an upgrade, so I did. What I didn't expect was to be upgraded to another hotel, much better location in central Reykjavik and only just opened with bigger rooms. Not only that the manager paid for our taxi ride. He really must have wanted rid of us! He also ensured that the various trip pick ups were informed.

Have a look at part of our room. This is beauty, the beast took the picture.

I have been reading Bruce Chatwin's book In Patagonia.  He was a wonderful observer and his descriptive style sans pareil. Fact and fiction also seem to swim along quite freely so maybe we have something in common. I am going to try to work on my descriptive writing, without sliding over into pretentiousness, I hope. See if you notice any difference. We are looking forward to a busy day tomorrow. 8.30 am we embark on the famous Golden Circle tour, getting back at 16.30 then at 19.30 we we leave on the "Mystery Northern Lights" tour. I think the mystery is whether or not we will see the elusive lights. Disney would have had it better organised than this.  He would have put the lights there to stay. See how we actually get on tomorrow.

If you are coming from Facebook, here is the photo